So Much Oddball Vintage; 2019 National Recap Part #3

If I'm being honest, I forgot about some of my goals for The 2019 National when I walked into the show last Wednesday in Chicago. 

The purpose behind those objectives was to add some structure to what can be a hectic event. I was successful in accomplishing my goals for last year's show in Cleveland, but for some reason, things were different this time around.

The 2019 National was definitely larger than last year's show in Cleveland. The fact that Chicago is such a dynamic sports city certainly helped, but there seemed to be more vendors and a stronger buzz surrounding the convention this time. 

Throughout my 2 1/2 days at the show, one thing remained on my radar nonstop; vintage cards. The shows that I usually attend have a fair amount of vintage, but the prices are often steep and the selection limited.

Because of the sheer scale of The National, you can't walk for 2 minutes without stumbling upon boxes and display cases full of cards from the 1970s and before.

I brought my want list along to make progress with 1961, 1976, and 1979 Topps, but I soon found myself filling in some other holes and venturing out towards oddball cards as well.

My Dad has always told me that his ideal set to complete is 1955 Bowman Baseball (mine's 1953 Topps). Although the checklist consists of just 320 cards, there are a significant number of Hall of Famers in the set, including 2nd-year cards of Ernie Banks and Al Kaline. 

The small set size is something that '55 Bowman has going for it that most vintage sets do not, so it makes sense to begin collecting these beautiful cards. The sole key rookie is Elston Howard (#68), and my Dad was able to track that card down for only $3.

I'm not big on starting a project that I likely won't finish, but I don't necessarily believe that's the case with 1955 Bowman. We may choose to go forward with this product with the understanding that it'll be a challenge, but I far from believe that completing this set is impossible.

Another one of my Dad's mini-projects throughout our time at The National was building a small collection of these Baseball's Famous Feats cards, a set put out by Fleer in 1973. 

Upon seeing these for the first time, I drew comparisons between the oversized cards above and the Fleer World Series sets from the early 1970s (which I'll get to later). 

The bold colors and cartoon design are used to honor significant events in Baseball history, like Hornsby's Triple Crowns and Cobb's batting titles.

These cards aren't quite large enough for vintage penny sleeves, meaning I'll have to buy some individual sheets the next time I'm at the Baseball card show to protect this set.

A couple of weeks ago, I left a comment on The Chronicles of Fuji's post, stating how fond I am of the 1970 Topps Posters. I could go on for hours about them, so I'll keep in brief. They're colorful, the perfect size, and feature some of the greatest players in MLB history.

While I can't say I was actively searching for these throughout my time at The National, I didn't spot any 1970 Topps Posters while I was there. Thankfully, my Dad landed one of Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis for only $2. 

There are just 24 posters in the set, so I might start putting this set together as well now that I'm wrapping up '76 and '79 Topps Flagship.

More old school oddballs, because where else would you be able to find 1983 Milwaukee Police Department cards of Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers? Sometimes this hobby can get pretty strange, and I absolutely love it.

Like the Fleer Famous Feats, these cards are oversized, so I'm not sure where I'm going to store them since they won't be able to fit with the other cards in the Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers PCs. However, these were my Dad's pickups as well, and for $1 each, I can figure something out.

Before I get into the vintage oddballs from a couple of sets, here's one of the coolest things that we picked up during our time at the show; a ticket stub from game #3 of the 1972 NLCS between the Reds and the Pirates at Riverfront Stadium.

I forget where exactly this came from or what my Dad paid for it, but this thing is pretty cool. We don't have all that many old tickets besides a couple of Red Sox ones from the late 70s, so I'm thrilled to add this to our collection of Cincinnati Reds memorabilia.

I stated earlier in this post that I'd talk more about the Fleer World Series cards from the early 1970s. What I didn't mention is that my Dad picked up a huge lot of these cards from the 1970 and 1971 sets, one of his largest pickups of the show.

Last Thursday, he found a vendor who was selling these cards by the page and received a substantial discount when he purchased almost everything the dealer had. We've both taken a liking to these oddballs in the past, and the fact that we barely had any beforehand only inspired my Dad more. 

All the cards above are from the 1970 set, but Fleer did the exact same thing in '71 by creating a cartoon for each Fall Classic. On the back, there's a quick blurb about the series as well as who won and how many games it lasted.

The 1971 design differs slightly from the previous year. The top corner features the MLB logo and the year of the World Series instead of a Baseball. Other than that small difference, there's no real way to tell them apart, for the style of the cartoons is nearly identical. 

Following this significant purchase, our next step regarding these 2 sets is to add them to the want list. Because of how uncommon they are, I assume we'll have to rely on major shows and the internet to complete the respective products.

Last but certainly not least, I'm thrilled to announce that we worked towards completing yet another vintage set in Chicago, the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. 

Like '55 Bowman and the '70 Topps Posters, the checklist is on the small side (80 cards), and we actually see this set somewhat regularly at the Mansfield show.

However, the price of these cards often gets out of hand, especially when they're in stellar condition. As far as completing sets is concerned, I've never cared too much about the shape that the card is in so long as it's all in 1 piece.

Thus, while searching for cards from the '59 Ted Williams set, neither my Dad nor myself put much emphasis on the condition of the card. As you can see, many have creases, frayed edges, and are slightly miss-cut. 

However, there's no card in horrible shape, and our open-mindedness is what allowed us to purchase as many of these set needs as we did.

If I wanted to build a set in which all the cards were in a certain condition, I'd have to be a bit more careful with what I purchase. However, that's never been and likely never will be the case with the cards that I buy, so I, truthfully, don't care that these cards have creases. 

Completing My Largest Trade Ever

If Baseball card blogging has taught me one thing, it's incredibly easier to complete sets of cards or simply add to one's collection when I receive help from fellow bloggers and viewers alike. Not only does it drastically speed up the process, but I'm also able to interact and send cards to other collectors at the same time.

To put this into perspective, there's a reasonable chance that I'd still be working to complete both 1972 and 1975 Topps if not for the help I've received from other collectors to finish those vintage sets. It's unlikely that I would've ever met a majority of these trade partners if not for the blog.

Recently, I've been completing more trades than usual, both with bloggers/viewers as well as Twitter users. Over the last month or so, I've traded with numerous collectors who have helped remove countless Baseball cards from my want list. 

Like I previously mentioned, some of these trades have been completed on Twitter where collectors have been extraordinarily generous, sending me packages full of singles from '76 and '79 Topps respectively.

However, as the title of this post suggests, my most recent trade is a pretty significant one. That's because the box of cards that arrived in the mail earlier this week is the largest trade package I've ever received. 

With over 400 cards included in this box, this will go down as the biggest trade I've ever completed unless I've totally blanked on another trade that I've taken part in. The cards, on the other hand, span 5 different decades, beginning in 1976 and continuing up through 2018.

In return, I sent this collector a slew of vintage cards, dating back as far as 1961. That lot featured doubles from the (somewhat) recently-completed 1972 and 1975 Topps sets, but also other vintage Flagship designs like '66 and '71.

Even if you take into account what I traded in return for this box of cards, the sheer number of cards that were sent my way indicates how generous the members of this hobby truly are. 

I've yet to have a negative experience while completing a Baseball card trade in my life, and this awesome haul is certainly no exception. It's pretty evident that I would never receive such an elaborate package of cards without branching out to other collectors through the blog.

The most significant part of this trade centered around 1 set in particular; 1979 Topps. Thanks to the abundance of trades and Baseball card show pickups over the last few weeks, I've made significant strides towards completing this 726-card set. However, none of these acquisitions have been quite as notable as this one.

Roughly 1/2 of the cards in this incredible box are from the 1979 Topps set, an extraordinary step in the right direction towards completing this product. Although a few of the cards were doubles due to my initiating 2 trades at once, the majority of these cards are needed to complete this 70s Flagship product.

Because of when the set was released, it's a lot easier to track down star players in 1979 Topps than it is for other sets, even '76 which is only 3 years older. Aided by the fact that Topps was no longer producing their sets in series, '79 marked the last year of the iconic 1970s decade. As far as 70s cards go, the cards from the end of the decade entail fairly little value.

The All-Star cards of the past, primarily the 1970s, are far more interesting than the All-Star Game cards featured in Topps Update every year. In the case of 1979 Topps, the cards feature an extra banner that matches the color of the team name banner. 

After Topps transitioned away from The Sporting News All-Star cards, we began to see simple yet creative additions to the cards to signify that the player is an All-Star. Out of all the years that Topps did this for, the actual stars in 1976 Topps remain my favorites.

Another staple throughout most 1970s sets were the record breaker cards, commemorating various milestones from the previous year. Eventual Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson received their own record breaker cards in the 70s, but so did lesser-known talents like John Stearns and Sammy Stewart, both of whom set records in 1978.

Currently, I've eclipsed the 2/3 mark of the '79 Topps set through this recently-completed mega-trade. Additionally, I have a couple other trades that I'll be putting in-place this weekend as well. Thanks to the generosity of various collectors, what once seemed impossible now appears rather achievable, and I could surprise even myself and complete the '79 Topps set this year.

In what's become almost expected when it comes to trade packages, this recent box featured a stack of 1976 Topps cards as well. Like the '79s, the cards were mostly commons, all of which are needed en route towards completing this underrated Flagship set.

A few comparisons can certainly be drawn between the 2 70s Topps sets, but I must say that I'm slightly more fond of 1976 Topps because of how colorful the cards are. Not only is there a unique color combination at the bottom of each card, but unique uniforms appear far more often in '76 than the 1979 set.

Even though the traditional Sporting News All-Star cards were no more by the time 1976 Topps was released, the 2 companies still managed a small subset in 1976 Topps, featuring all-time All-Stars instead of current players. 

The checklist is fairly minimal, for the subset is reserved solely for the greatest players to ever play the game up until '76. In addition to the few cards that I had beforehand, I can now add Rogers Hornsby and Honus Wagner to this set.

As fabulous as these 2 Topps sets are, I've seen a slew of these cards over the last few weeks. Thankfully, this Twitter user took an in-depth look at my want list and ended up finding cards from all sorts of products that were listed.

Among the 400 or so cards that I received in the mail, a small stack of around 10 cards was from the 2005 Bowman Heritage set. It can be nearly impossible to find base cards from the 2000s when I head off to the Baseball card show, forcing me to rely on trades and getting lucky at the show to complete these kinds of sets.

The same thing could definitely be said about the 2006 Topps Heritage set. Apart from 1 or 2 times a year in which I stumble upon a small stack of these cards in the dime boxes, I'm forced to rely on trades or the internet to complete these base sets. Thanks to this major trade, I was able to add roughly 15-20 more cards to this set.

While I'm making my way through the 2000s, I should definitely address another major part of this trade; the 2008 Topps Heritage cards that were included in this box as well. A fairly large stack of cards from this Heritage set was featured as another element of this fabulous trade. 

I've had similar luck with completing this set as I've had for other 2000s sets, and I've never received this many cards from this product all at once. Commemorating the 1959 Topps design, this product successfully replicates one of the better Topps sets of the 1950s.

When sorting through the cards in this stack, it was pretty surreal to see so many veterans' photos from 11 years ago, including Joe Mauer who has since retired. Apart from Adam Jones, all of these stars have remained with their respective teams since 2008. Jones, on the other hand, spent many years in Baltimore before recently signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a 1-year deal.

The sheer simplicity and color featured on the original 1959 Topps combo cards is a major reason as to why they've been replicated not once, but twice by Topps. The first time was in 2008 Topps Heritage, shown above, while the others were included as SPs in the 2018 Topps Archives set.

As I was addressing The Sporting News earlier, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that for over a decade, including the 2008 Topps Heritage cards above, the All-Star cards were titled "The Topps News" instead.

Flashing forward an entire decade, the 1959 Topps combo cards were replicated once again, this time as SPs in last year's Topps Archives set. With a base set that featured the 1959, 1977, and 1981 Topps Flagship sets, it was one of the greatest Topps Archives sets that we've ever seen thanks to the extensive variety.

Not only was it surprising to find short prints in this trade package, but I was pleasantly surprised at this collector's willingness to part with a Miguel Andujar rookie card so that I can, hopefully, complete the 2018 Topps Archives set.

Seriously though, from the Clemens base card to the Bob Gibson SP, these Archives cards are awesome.

But perhaps the most generous card included in this entire insane trade package was an original 1959 Fleer Ted Williams card. That's right, a 60-year old card was kindly included in this spectacular box of want list needs, helping me on my journey towards completing this set as well.

This card is pretty awesome and is definitely the highlight of the entire box, but what I'm more impressed with is the incredible selection of different cards showcased in this trade package. This box highlighted the fact that I'm in the process of collecting a surplus of Baseball card products, but that doesn't mean I can't complete them.

All that means is I have to complete more trades with bloggers, viewers, and Twitter users, and after this trade, I'll have even more motivation to complete a trade from now on.